Reading FC Match Report: 2016/2017 Season - Championship

04 February 2017IPSWICH 2 READING 2

Post Match Fans' Opinion

Norfolk Royal

Ipswich will count themselves unlucky not to have won that considering we scored from pretty much our only two chances.

Dire first half in which we invited Ipswich onto us with the usual dodgy passing around at the back. This gave them confidence to have a go at us and they deserved to go in at half time ahead.

Second half saw an improved performance by us but we still looked dodgy and likely to concede when Lawrence and McGoldrick (who both had excellent games) ran at our defence who were backing off too much when they got the ball. McShane is a big miss when he doesn't play.

That was a point won rather than two thrown away in the circumstances.

Al-Habsi - 7 - did most things well and very good stuff late on to win a goal kick from a dangerous Ipswich attack. Can probably do without Gunter I think it was, leathering a back pass at him in the centre of goal.

Gunter - 5 - Not much going forward and positioning looked suspect. One good saving tackle near the end which was the result of a bit of a mix up.

Obita - 7.5 - Good game from him, probably MOTM. Seemed our most potent attacking threat at times and scored a peach of an equaliser from well kept down volley outside the area when it ballooned out to him. Had row z written all over it when he took aim then it rocketed in. Well done.

Blackett - 6 - Thought he had a good first half and looks more comfortable as a central defender. Possibly at fault for the second goal along with Moore - where were they?

Moore - 6.5 - best player in the first half and most likely to bring the ball out of defence positively.

Williams - 6 - seemed to be playing at right back for most of the game. Don't see enough games to comment on why that was so or whether he does it every week, but whatever it was, it didn't work.

Mutch - 6.5 - Started off nervously giving the ball way and looked off the pace a bit, but grew into it becoming more influential as the game went on. Took his goal well and hopefully that will give him confidence to kick on. Encouraging.

Swift - 5 - Doesn't look fit to me and played high up to give Kermorgant support in the first half, to not much effect. Was substituted at half time I think due to injury where he slipped and turned his ankle.

Kelly - 6.5 - What he did he did well with good skill but never dominated or put in a killer ball. Decent though and tried hard particularly in the second half.

Kermorgant - 5 - never got a sniff and we had so few corners and free kicks in dangerous positions that he was never able to use his aerial ability. Quiet game from him.

McLeary - 5 - Never really got into the game can't remember him doing much at all really.

Subs: Evans: Looked to have a better shape when he came on. Missed a trick by not playing him in front of the back four today.

Grabban: Came on at half time after Swift's injury I think. Looked lively to be fair. Had good movement and decent control. My Norwich mates all say that though and point out that he looks good until it comes to putting the ball in the net. Encouraging start though.

Fans: More there than I usually see at Ipswich, probably around 7-800 but quiet for the most time as there wasn't an awful lot to shout about. There was a huge geezer down the front who kept shouting at everyone to sing but don't think anybody much felt like it.

handbags_harris

» 04 Feb 2017 20:04

Frustrating season for me as this was my first awayday, and a disappointing performance all told. OP nails it with his assertions, although Williams played on the right as he was clearly right wing back, with Blackett and Gunter playing centrally with Moore.

Desperately disappointed with Gunter for the first who backed off and backed off, making minimal effort to push Lawrence wide instead allowing him the freedom of Suffolk to smash home, and the defence collectively for the second with a direct ball out of the Ipswich defence finding McGoldrick in space who in turn played a single ball piercing the heart of the back line. Such a simple goal and disappointing to concede in such a manner.

On the other hand, in attack we looked lethargic and devoid of penetration so to come away with a point when so below par is a good return.

CountryRoyal

» 04 Feb 2017 20:41

I had a feeling we'd have an absolute stinker of a performance today and I was proved right. We can't just rock up and expect teams to roll over and let us play. There was little movement, communication and creativity, confounded by loads of individual errors. Defensively we were awful. Swift was atrocious, as was Gunter. Thought Obita had a decent game and Grabban looked good when he came on.

Dissapointing performance but pleasing to come away with a point after playing so badly.

We move on.

WAZZOCK

» 04 Feb 2017 21:50

Whilst I wasn't too chuffed with the performance, I'm happy that we have enough within the squad to grind out something when we don't play too well. It's also a measure of how far we've come that a draw at Portman Road is deemed to be a bad result.

I got the thoughts from some Ipswich fans, and they said that was their best performance for the last 18 months, which is frustrating. I'd have taken 4 points from the two away games at the start of the week though.

tidus_mi2

» 04 Feb 2017 22:00

Tom Lawrence got goal of the day, to me it looked like a simple breakaway goal and not overly special. This is based on a poll the Sky Sports Twitter ran.

Flyingkiwi

» 04 Feb 2017 23:20

I didn't feel that there was any cohesion. Nobody seemed to be aware of what anybody else was doing, the aimless passimg across-field got on my tits, the defece was a total shambles (We almost gave them there second) and Ali Al-Habsi's reluctance to "give it a hoof" now and then frustrated. Also why were we having so many problems slipping over (Particularly down the right in the first half) when I don' recall one Ipswich player losing his footing at any time.

Bloody happy not to lose. We were crap (And £35 admission was an unpleasant surprise, too).

Flyingkiwi

» 05 Feb 2017 01:13

By the way: if that's the best Ipswich have played for 18 months, it's no wonder the place was half empty.

Steve_Upper_West

» 05 Feb 2017 02:26

Compared to Tuesday evening that was rather disappointing to say the least - twice the cost and half the entertainment. Poor support for Ipswich and not much better for us - certainly not helped by cretins screaming abuse at our own players !

Thought Mutch looked very composed and will bring an additional level of experience, just like Griffin did a few years back - could turn out to be a very shrewd loan.

tidus_mi2

» 05 Feb 2017 04:01

So all in all, we probably expected to win but a draw is good considering we went behind twice, we extended the gap ahead of 7th to 10pts and will potentially drop to 4th tomorrow depending on the Huddersfield vs Leeds result, considering their extra game in hand, Huddersfield not winning would be better and I suppose a draw would be the ideal result.

Emeraldroyal

» 05 Feb 2017 07:50

Agree with most of the ratings handed down.

Mixed emotions the morning after. It's a point gained as we were utter shite we really were. Note to self hold off hammering the forum with raw emotion as you're sat on the train dreading the trek home...epic journey and made worse for a lot of folk by a nasty crash on the A12.

Personally very dissapointed in Swift. Somebody else said he must be carrying an injury but his touch was shocking and he was visibly limping after taking a solid tackle early doors. He's capable of much more.
Gunter was the guilty party for their first.
I could see it coming a mile off as he held back and held back allowing far too much space. Get a tackle in you're not the last man and worst case you give a free away.
Invite them on and look what happens !

Thought Blackett was actually decent.
Ali did what was needed but drew some gasps again from our support at times.
No horror show thankfully.

Kelly was average. Worryingly reminded me of Norwood yesterday. Makes a sidewards pass look spectacular but it's still nothing more than a sidewards pass !
Got stuck in and hassled as always though.
Mutch took his goal well and looks comfortable on the ball if lacking a bit of fitness maybe.

Jordan's strike was a 'worldy' as the kids say. Knew it was going in the second he struck it. We managed to score from our only two proper strikes on goal if you ask me. After We equalised we seemed to wake up (on the pitch and in the stands) and dominated briefly before reverting to shit passing and sitting back allowing a very average Ipswich side too much space.

Special mention to the big headbanger down the front who kept trying to get everybody singing. Mate, I admire your enthusiasm but shouting 'sing you oxf*rd oxf*rd' whilst looking like you would slit somebody's throat isn't the best way to endear yourself !

We didn't get beat. The pie was superb.

We move on.

WAZZOCK

» 05 Feb 2017 10:15

^^^^ EmeraldRoyals nails it there, spot on.

Norfolk Royal

» 05 Feb 2017 10:15

As that was the first time I'd seen us in the flesh as it were this season, a comment on our passing game if I may.
Clearly it works to the extent that we're third in the table so there's that to start with.
But yesterday we were up against an Ipswich team low on confidence having been hammered at home by Derby in midweek with the home support voting with their feet and no doubt expecting another defeat.
So what did we do? Go for their throat early doors and look for an early goal to demoralise them? Engage them in midfield to assert dominance?
Well no, we passed it slowly around at the back, nervously at times. This encouraged Ipswich to have a go at us, and they did.
Clearly this is one game and most are different and opposition teams have tended to combat our passing game with either a high press or stand off us and wait for a mistake.
Ipswich opted for the latter although there were moments of high press by them. That worked for them perfectly. When they realised that the net result of our laboured passing would be a hopeful punt forward or a heavy ball into the feet of a midfield player who would then lose it, that was all the encouragement they needed.
I think their fans were nonplussed by the way we played. When we got the ball they seemed to settle down and open their thermos flasks knowing we would have a few minutes of possession before giving it back to them. It was that obvious.
When they did get the ball they immediately attacked with pace and without a holding midfielder they had our defence backing off all the time. McGoldrick and Lawrence played close together with little width while our two wing backs were marginalised. That should have been spotted earlier and tbf adjustments were made at half time and as the game wore on but too late, they had their tails up by then.
It's horses for courses sometimes and the system we played seemed too inflexible to take that into account.